October Wrap Up

A late October wrap up, but better late than never! I participated in the Spookathon readathon last month and I got really into the dark and thrilling reads in preparation for Halloween. I read 5 books last month - here are my thoughts!

Books Read

1) Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie: 4/5 stars

2) Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake: 4/5 stars

3) A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena: 3/5 stars

4) Bird Box by Josh Malerman: 4/5 stars

5) The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware: 3.5/5 stars

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Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (4/5)

This was my second Agatha Christie read, and I was not disappointed.

When a murder takes place on a train overnight, detective Hercule Poirot must find the culprit amongst the passengers. Christie does such a great job of assembling the clues, setting out red herrings and tricking you into believing that you might have a chance of solving the mystery, and then shocking you with an ending no one would see coming. It's a short little mystery with an interesting set of characters, and Poirot is an intriguing protagonist to follow as he tries to put pieces of the clue together.

While I liked the end of And Then There Were None better, this one still completely surprised me. The ending made sense, even if it was a little unrealistic, and she manages to explain everything so neatly that I'm not bothered by the trickiness of her mysteries. A great read overall!

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Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (4/5)

I really enjoyed this and now I'm totally sucked into this world. I can see how this book isn't for everyone, and there are multiple reasons why it shouldn't have worked for me either, but something just clicked. Three triplets who were separated as children, a poisonist, a naturalist, and an elementist, must prepare to fight and kill each other to become the sole queen of the island. I find this premise so intriguing. The darkness advertised in this synopsis was definitely present, and I loved the grittier, disturbing aspects of the book. In particular, I loved the scenes with Katharine, the poisoner, when she is trying to eat a poisoned feast. These scenes are both luscious and revolting, and I was glad to see that the author didn't shy away from gross details (like vomiting, sickness, scabs, etc. from Katharine's poisoning). I realize that the pacing is extremely slow, and not that much actually happens for the majority of the book, but I didn't care. Good writing makes even a slow pace enjoyable in most cases. Because the story rotates between each sister's perspective and has to set up a lot of worldbuilding, it is slow but is filled with so many fascinating details that kept me hooked to every page. The sisters barely even interact until the end of the story, and there isn't any real fighting, but that didn't make the plot any less exciting for me. There's lots of political intrigue in each of the sister's lives, friendships and love interests that complicate things, and bits of magic to keep things interesting. While I did have a favourite sister and setting, each one had something different and valuable to offer. My favourite sister is Katharine, then Mirabella, then Arsinoe. Each one was so unique and felt so different every time I switched perspectives. Katharine was determined, and maybe the nastiest of the sisters, Mirabella was unexpectedly sweet, defying expectations, and Arsinoe was a bit goofy and carefree. The one thing I didn't like about Arsinoe's chapters is that they were dominated by the romance between her two friends, Jules and Joseph. Most of the time she felt like a side character to Jules, whose life dominated the pages. Maybe this is why I ended up liking Arsinoe the least, because I didn't have enough time to truly connect with her. There are a lot of side characters throughout the book but because they are separated by distinct settings, I didn't have much trouble distinguishing them. I predicted the end of the book, and I'm actually so glad Kendare Blake took that route. Usually I like being surprised, but the ending of this book was just so good that I can't help but be pleased. And, I was completely blindsighted by a different twist that came completely out of left field, and I loved it. I will definitely be picking up the sequel, One Dark Throne, and I can't wait to see what happens!

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A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena (3/5)

This was a really average thriller, but I also really enjoyed myself reading it and I was glued to the pages. It doesn't hurt that this is super easy and fast to get through. When housewife Karen Krupp speeds away from a murder scene, crashing into a utility pole and losing her memory, she becomes a suspect in the detective's investigation: but what really happened that night? The amnesia device is so overdone. I was slightly annoyed by its use, especially when it slowly came back at random and seemingly for no particular reason. It didn't advance the plot, it only served to disguise a thin plot. Without it, there would be no story to tell. Not much happens and it's not that thrilling. It's almost more of a character study. The characters were ok. Tom, Karen's husband, is a bit of an ass, Karen was pretty one dimensional, and the neighbor, Brigid, felt like a caricature of a busybody with obvious ulterior motives. The detective, who was also in her previous novel, is supposed to be so intelligent, but I found that he never actually had to do much thinking. The clues just fell into his lap, the pieces came together, he got lucky. If I remember correctly, this was also the case in her previous novel. He's a detective without much substance unfortunately. He feels like a set piece, used as a pawn on a chessboard to advance the plot. The ending was just so typical, using a certain thing that's been trending a lot in domestic thrillers. It added some interest to a seemingly obvious story, but again, it's just overdone. I wish the author had come up with something more original. The plot never shocked me, and the "twists" rolled out slowly and mildly. Despite all this, A Stranger in the House was actually quite pleasant to read. I did want to figure out what happened and it was enjoyable, quick, and easy. It just wasn't as complex and thrilling as I like my mystery thrillers.

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Bird Box by Josh Malerman (4/5)

An apocalyptic tale that reminded me of The Walking Dead, Bird Box was creepy, original, and overall fascinating. There were a couple hair-raising moments but it wasn't scary enough to get under my skin. In a world where seeing drives people mad, Malorie and her two small children get in a rowboat, blindfolded, in search of a better, safer life than the one they've known for four years. The idea that sight is the thing to be feared, that blindness is the thing that protects you from the monsters outside your windows, was a really interesting idea. It allowed Malerman to explore other senses thoroughly, from the crinkling of leaves and whistling of wind that fills Malorie's ears as she leads the children to the river, to the feel of the grass and wooden slats that guide her to the well. Terror was created not through the appearance of monsters, but through sounds and the mere suggestion of something lurking beyond the blindfold. The story explores two timelines, that of Malorie and her children and escaping, and that of the past when Malorie joins a group of survivors in a world gone mad. I thought the execution of these timelines was well done. I found the past timeline a little more interesting as it dived into the explanation for this world, and the current timeline was just Malorie rowing, but both were still interesting to learn about. I couldn't stop turning the pages trying to find out how Malorie got to the place she was and what happened to make her so alone and harsh. Again, this felt similar to the Walking Dead because of the group of characters living in an apocalyptic world, trying to live together and survive the internal and external dangers around them. Despite this, the story is unique in the way the danger presents itself: as something you see. The ending was almost too predictable and mild in my opinion, and I wish Malerman had really shocked us and gone out of the box. I also wish there were more scary moments, particularly in the present timeline - there were threats for sure, but I think the stakes could have been raised. The characters were well developed and distinct. Malorie was unlikeable at times, always snapping at the children and punishing them when they answer her questions wrong. She didn't even give the kids names, calling them Boy and Girl. However, there are valid reasons for Malorie's harshness and it is clear that she does love the children and will do anything to protect them. Training them to keep their eyes closed and listen carefully to the world around them seemed harsh, but in this world her actions are justified. Malorie was more pleasant in the past timeline, but she was also more of an observer to the actions of the other housemates, particularly Tom. In the end, I did care for these characters. I really liked this book! Not the scariest book I've ever read, but fascinating in the way it explores fear and sight in an apocalyptic world.

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The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (3.5)

I don’t think I liked this one as much as Ruth Ware’s first novel, In A Dark, Dark Wood, but I did enjoy this more than my last thriller read, A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena. When Lo Blacklock, a journalist aboard a cruise ship, sees the woman in the cabin next to hers go overboard, she must convince the other passengers of the crime and find out the truth about what happened that night. There’s something about Ware’s writing that I really enjoy. Her characters are more complex than in some mystery thrillers, with interior lives that actually make me care about them. Her writing is smart, and she manages to build up suspension with ease. Her descriptions are vivid without weighing down the speed of the plot, and in this case, the setting of the cruise ship was excellently done. Ware creates atmosphere with the churning waves and the shifting feeling of the boat and she does a great job at creating a sense of claustrophia within the confined walls. Comparisons to Agatha Christie are well founded because of this enclosed area, where anyone and everyone is a suspect. I liked the array of characters Ware had to offer. None seemed purely one dimensional. Each one had suspicion cast on them as Lo searched for answers about the missing woman, and I truly felt like any one of them could have been responsible. I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Lo and her boyfriend, who was not aboard the boat, as I thought it was a fleshed out example of the love and strife in relationships and I really *shipped* the pair (pun most certainly intended).

The ending of the book surprised me – I didn’t see it coming at all. It was farfetched, like mysteries often are, yet explained enough to make it seem plausible and reasonably motivated. The climax and resolution dragged on a little bit too much, but the direction this book went was ultimately interesting and not unsatisfactory. It's hard to say why I didn’t love this book. Maybe I wanted there to be more surprises as it leads up to the reveal. It was definitely suspenseful, but perhaps not as twisty as I like. I have no real complaints about it, and it was a pretty decent thriller.

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Have you read any of these books? What books did you read last month?

Thanks for reading!